Voices In Recovery Podcast

Sitting down with our guests and hearing their incredible stories continues to be inspiring and incredibly enlightening. The hours spent with humans continues teaching Darcy and I in complex ways. To be better humans; better brothers, friends, partners, sons, father, and uncles. To do better work in our community, become kinder and more compassionate in all of our affairs. Each person is inspiring...

This week we sit down with Deb and hear her amazing journey through life and recovery. Her life was anything but linear, as she wove her way through abuse, codependency, constant instability, and regular truama at the hands of family members and others. She nearly lost her son permanently due to mental health concerns and serious depression. However, she worked diligently on her health, challenges...

This week we have our friend Cassandra sharing her story. She talks about coming from an alcoholic family of origin in which she survived multiple abuses in and out of the home. The violence she encountered led her into a mindset of hating men for long periods of her life. Today she works diligently on her family, recovery, health, and being of use to other people on the road of recovery. She atte...

This week's guest is Jeremy and to be honest he reminds me of how important it is be there for others. He's a bit of an earth angel working in harm reduction. I will give everyone a trigger warning as we talk openly about drug use in medicinal and recreational conditions.  ***Under no circumstances are we suggesting people should take drugs. We are in no position to tell people what they should be...

This week's guest is Brooklyn, a local artist and helper, who works with Diamond Willow Youth Lodge. She has been sober for 4 years and works daily on her sobriety and making the right choices for herself and those she cares for. She has lost many people during her life and is grateful she can face her life and grief with clear, sober eyes. We didn't know a lot about each other, as this was the fi...

We are grateful to have a friend and colleague, Shannon, on the show to tell us about her life in recovery. Shannon has found her way from an abusive and painful childhood, past, and feeling lost and scared all the time. She is now focused not just on staying sober and helping others, but learning to enjoy life through things like yoga, continuing her education, and embracing changes and what life...

This week, a marvelous human being and friend, Wayne drops by to share his story. We start by talking about an amazing human and another friend of ours and many others, Brady Winters. I welcome any opportunity to talk about our departed friend. Wayne takes us through his childhood in an alcoholic household where it was chaos and more chaos. One of the coolest things about this guy is his compassio...

This week Nicole stops by and shares her amazing journey with us. From living the street life she takes us through committing crimes, jail, attempts at staying clean, into finding the catalyst for change. Today she is committed to helping other addicts and alcoholics in both her personal and professional life. She is one of those helpers this world really needs!  I want to say a special thanks Nic...

This week long time friend of our family, James Woods joins us with his working dog Rebel! They work together finding bed bugs in homes, offices, apartment complexes, condos, hotels, shelters, treatment centers, health care facilities, or anywhere bed bugs can be found! They are also really good at creeping Darcy out. We all enjoyed some doggo time last year before we got locked down again. James...

We are very grateful to have Kerry join us to talk about his journey. Kerry is a second generation Residential School survivor and a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, with which he turned to addiction in order to numb the pain. After witnessing his Mother struggle through her own issues of abuse from the Residential School upbringing and numerous suicide attempts. Kerry found himself in jail whe...

Jon, Dom, David, and Darcy all get together to finish up our insane 2020 experience.

We are so grateful to have a longtime friend and a part of our family, Teresa drop by this week. She opens up about her family, health, addiction, and recovery. Starting at a very young age her addiction took a strangle hold over her life. Once she had a life and death scare with the added motivation of being a better mom to her children did Teresa start walking the road of recovery. Today her lif...

We are grateful to be joined by Arthur. He spends his work days and off days looking for ways to not only improve himself but his approach to life, love, work, etc. After sitting with him, I know I leave with energy and a desire to do better each day. He talks about his life before moving to Canada from Belarus. We talk about the contrasted difference of policing and life in Canada to that of Bela...

We are joined by my dad, Wayne, to talk about grief through our personal experiences with grief.

We are joined by Megan and have an amazing conversation about her youth in Venezuela, how she really came to understand trauma, her journey to learn about Canada's genocide of Indigenous people, racism and so much more. A huge thanks to Megan for joining us and showing the courage to be open and honest during some difficult conversations.

We are so grateful to be joined by Mike. An unfortunate and difficult split from his siblings when they were placed into foster care cause all manner of insecurity. Mike takes us through his foster home experiences and jail time into a life of recovery where he tries to live "stark raving sober" as he says it.  A huge thanks to Mike for being open, honest, and willing to share his story. Thank you...

We have an incredible conversation with Kyla.  She shares openly about not only living in addiction, but what helped her get into recovery. Dealing with addiction, mental health, grief, loss, and ego is a part of a never ending search to connect with people. These are some highlights from our conversation together. A huge thank you to Kyla for coming on the show and being so open with all of us.

This week a wonderful friend of mine, Val, drops by and shares her incredible journey of recovery. Far from perfect, she strives to continuously grow, love and recover. She has and continues to work on herself and regularly with others. Her desire and effort for authenticity makes her a beautiful example for those around her and anyone lucky enough to spend time with her. Thank you my friend, for...

Joining us today is one of the strongest people I have met, Karen. Her story takes us through a 30 year opiate addiction due to the overwhelming amount of surgeries she has had and continues to need. She finds a way to live life sober with new surgeries and incredible chronic pain. She is an amazing human and I am grateful to know her and call her a friend.

This week, my mom visits with us and shares her journey. She talks about life on a Saskatchewan farm with her family and how a smooth talking, young preacher came to town and changed her life unexpectedly. It is an honor for me to present my mom's story to everyone. She talked about things I had no idea about and I am grateful for every opportunity to listen to either of my folks share their life....

This week's special episode is Kyla and Meagan's incredible music and soul. They share songs and we chat about holding on to love, as the world continues plummeting deeper into fear. We talk about music keeping us sane, opening emotions, and allowing us to express our fear and pain. This was a special evening for all of us. Thank you Meagan and Kyla!

Gord joins us, sharing his journey from addiction into recovery, highlighting the importance of doing the work to help our evolution as humans. Gord talks about what helps him in recovery, what his life is like now, and how he will forever be on a journey of self discovery and improvement.

We are so lucky! We were given time at Pawsitive Match Rescue Foundation to explore their programs and organization. We had a great conversation about the charity; how they help the animals, volunteering, as well as the important role that animals play in our lives. We also talk about the impact the animals have for people in recovery. These folks know their business and if you are curious about a...

We are honoured to have Don join us this week. Don is a Veteran of the Canadian Military, after leaving the military he decided to head back to school and get some education to help him do what he wanted, which was to help other veterans.   Don now works for Homes for Hero's whose mission is to provide a caring, innovative and comprehensive solution to homelessness among our veterans. Not only do...

Martina's story begins in an orphanage in Egypt, which turned into a strange journey to Canada. She found the world of substance abuse at a young age, which showed her a life in and out of jail where she eventually began her recovery journey. Through the use of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy she has maintained her recovery and is now trying to focus on her own healing and understanding life without...